On the road to Emmaus, Jesus “opened” the Scriptures to two grieving disciples. Luke records the incident in chapter 24 of his gospel, and spends an inordinate amount of time and uses a very complex rhetorical arrangement to demonstrate the importance of this moment. Luke doesn’t want us to miss that all of Scripture is about Jesus and that all of Scripture demonstrates that the Messiah had to suffer to win victory.
This fall, we will be embarking on a Bible study on the life of David. (If you aren’t already in one of the groups, email Justin+ or Tori to get involved.) This study will be the perfect moment for seeing what Jesus meant (and what Luke didn’t want us to miss): all of Scripture is about the suffering Messiah!
David’s life is a type, a living picture, a foreshadowing of Jesus. He wasn’t perfect (in fact, his great sin with Bathsheba caused death and havoc in his family and kingdom and effectively ended his moral authority as a godly king), but in spite of his imperfections, God told a story through the details of David’s life that was far larger than David himself. In David’s life, God told the story of the Messiah—the story of an overlooked young man who delighted in the Father, was anointed for leadership, won a great victory by crushing the head of a the enemy of God’s people, endured persecution before claiming his kingdom, built a new Jerusalem for his people, and prepared the way for God’s temple to be among his people again. Over and over, we will see Jesus’ life in David’s, sometimes in subtle hints and sometimes in things too obvious to miss.
But if David’s life is a prefiguring of Jesus’, then it is also a prefiguring of ours. After all, we have been joined to Jesus and given his life. Whatever is his is now ours, and he called us to walk the same path he walked. In other words, as we study David, we will see ourselves, because we will see Jesus and we are a part of him.
Join one of the groups! I am looking forward to this study, and pray that it is a deep encouragement to all of us.
In the Messiah,
Steven+